INTERVIEW: CHRISTIAN of TITTYFUCKER

Kung Fu Breakfast editor-in-chief Jay Kantor sent me exploring the darkest caverns of the internet for information on a San Diego, CA band subtly named TittyFucker. They were a grind trio who played totally in the buff (apart from ski masks, which looked way cooler on them than on the bikini clad human props in Spring Breakers). I use the past tense because as soon as I discovered them they had announced their final show. Fascinated with the concept, I reached out to Christian, drummer/composer/co-founder of the band. Read on for descriptions of explicit nudity, betrayal, and Christian’s account of the band’s rowdy/randy shows and their future prospects:

Mr. Growl: The wisdom of the internet tells me TittyFucker was formed in 2011. How did all of the members meet?

Christian: We did indeed form in 2011 and started off in the Chula Vista House Show scene.

As for our history, I grew up with the vocalist Charlene here in San Diego. In fact she is still my neighbor. As for Andrea, I actually met her at an Ecstasy party. That was a crazy evening/morning.

Mr. Growl: Who was the first to pitch the idea of "Bare Naked Grind Violence" and how did you all decide to move forward in that direction?

Christian: It was I, as me and Charlene always took nude photographs of us and our friends for her nudist collective "La Vita". I figured since we are so desensitized to being buck-ass nude in public - why not do it in a band for the sake of an aesthetic statement? That statement being that we "don't give a fuck."

Mr. Growl: Apart from that aesthetic statement, how would you describe the attitude of TittyFucker?

Christian: Well, I'll speak for myself; I do not fear the judgements nor the restrictions that people will hold against me.

As for the other members I can say that Andrea had agreed upon that before in another interview. As for my vocalist, after I left the band, she said - "We milked it for a couple months." That could mean anything.

Mr. Growl: Your Facebook page has an awesomely detailed list of musical influences for each member. Who were your inspirations from a performance aspect?

Christian: For me, GG Allin is somewhat a dead give away for rockin' out with my cock out and the message that you can do whatever you want. I will also include Maniac from Mayhem for the self-mutilation and fear instilling theatrics.

Mr. Growl: How would you describe general crowd reaction to your band?

Christian: Angry, aroused, impressed, disturbed, and inspired according to the conversations that I've had post-performances.

Mr. Growl: Were there any horror stories where the crowd was out of line during a show?

Christian: Never. At least things you wouldn't expect at grind-violence show in the buff - such as - objects being thrown at us; overly hyped crowds that knock over the equipment; perverted cat calls... Yeah. All standard for TITTYFUCKER.

Mr. Growl: It looks like after a while you started playing with ski masks. Was this purely an aesthetic choice or have you had trouble with law enforcement and protecting your identities?

Christian: It's a 50/50 blend of theatrics and practicality. You see, it was my idea due to Charlene complaining about all the photos people would post online. So I suggested we'd wear ski masks since photos are inevitable. Plus on both my and Andrea's part, we figured it'd be safe to keep our band life, and work life separated within hidden identities.

Mr. Growl: Could you describe your local scene and how your location influenced the band's sound and approach?

Christian: It's generally White Boy Reggae bands all day everyday. As for the punk/metal/indie scene, it's young and will forever be in the maggot stage since this town is constantly in and out with tourists. The DIY spaces are mediocre, and vain with the exception of a great place called The Steinhaus. It's hard to book underground touring bands here for a reason - it's just a scene/market. It's not a way of life as music should be.

Mr. Growl: You recently announced that the band will be breaking up after your show on June 7th. What factors resulted in this decision?

Christian: Terrible band etiquette that fans and friends would complain about is one factor (horrible punctuality and snootiness for example), and the fact that Charlene was embezzling the band funds behind my back. Let alone lying about its whereabouts, I just can't be in a band with someone that I can't trust nor rely upon. After the fact that I wrote all the music, and lyrics; designed the art for our shirts and vinyl, did equipment tech (they couldn't tune a guitar to save their lives) I couldn't bear such an amount of greedy disrespect like that. The integrity was not there.

Mr. Growl: What do you each have planned after Titty Fucker's last show, short and long-term?

Christian: I know the girls are doing what they call "Folk-Metal.” I quote-end-quoted that because it's not the majestic Folk-Metal we all know, it's more like that angsty Folk-Punk stuff mixed with Metalcore according to my assumption. I think they recruiting members and will continue to play naked.

As for myself, I have my band CELL. To give you an idea, we sound as if Dystopia, Darkthrone, and Converge spliced their DNA, and developed the final product in the womb of SUNN O))). We're chiseling the tracks to our debut EP which will be released on vinyl and tapes within 2013.

Editor: How bad ass does this dude’s new band sound? Will definitely follow up with more information on CELL as I receive it. Many thanks to Christian for taking the time to answer our questions. I also have to say that the name of the picture above the interview (Christian TittyFucker) is my favorite JPEG name ever.

Check out a track over at Bandcamp to see what you missed:  http://tittyfucker.bandcamp.com/

GUEST REVIEW: HORSEBACK / LOCRIAN - NEW DOMINIONS

Mister Growls welcomes our second guest reviewer today, Mr. Rick Sahlin, to share his thoughts on the Horseback/Locrian collaboration New Dominions. Unlike the previous guest assignment (Jude Gullie’s review of Evoken’s A Caress of the Void) I had not listened to this release prior. I entrusted this task to Rick knowing that he is a passionate fan and scholar of the full spectrum of music. Take delight in his following musings as he asks difficult questions and gives me cautious credit for not being an elitist metalhead:

“Sean says the leader is into Neil Young. Neil Young is my favorite. I’ve said this out loud many times and Sean must have heard me say that. Lots of people love Neil Young and that’s fine. I don’t need to feel like I have idiosyncratic taste in music.

I just recently heard “Slip Away” for the first time. It was the version from the Year of the Horse album and I fell in love all over again. There’s always another great Neil song to discover.

So there was a chance that maybe I would like this. I initially thought maybe the point of the exercise was to shock the non-metal fan or make him uncomfortable so metal fans can jeer and congratulate themselves for being tough enough or open-minded enough to like the thing that scares or alienates the non-metal fan. But I should have known Sean would not be up to something like that. Sean is inviting me to metal’s house and I am in metal’s house now as his guest. I’m thankful to have been invited and I will a be a respectful guest and I will sample the banquet that metal has prepared.

Why invite a non-metal fan to review metal? Probably you know more about metal than I ever plan to learn. About how metal works and what metal means and how effective this particular metal is. I can only tell you how someone with a limited knowledge of metal and, today at least, more curiosity than suspicion about metal, will receive this.

I was playing “Sway” by the Rolling Stones around my brother. It sounded like the best goddamn song as I was listening to it and it just made me feel great about music and the Rolling Stones and life and I was dancing around with a big grin on my face. When it was over I asked him what he thought about the Rolling Stones and he said, “They don’t need me to like them.” Sharing your music with others is not always rewarding.

But maybe you want to share metal with your friends. Maybe sharing metal with your friends and family will enrich your relationship with the people in your lives and also with metal. I personally wish I knew more people who were into hip-hop because I just need to share my thoughts about hip-hop sometimes and also hear some fresh thoughts from others. I hope everything works out for both of us.

I can't get into the newest Ghostface album but I enjoyed hearing his recent Wu-Block collaboration on a recent walk through the park. The beats are functional. You'll nod your head. There's a song where Ghost and Sheek Louch compare their guns to children they diligently care for. In the intro of another Ghost breaks down his preferences for cold remedies. He browses the Encylopedia Britannica while drinking lemonade and watching Larry King Live on mute. It's just fun.

My metal background: I took a friend’s extra ticket to Ozzfest 2002. Ozzy was fine - the time-tested songs are familiar to a novice and he is a cute and doddering old man. I took my shirt off even though I’m fat and I was one of several shirtless fat guys yelling and throwing up the horns. System of a Down were also fine - you could shout “Disorder!” during that song and alternate between pogo dancing and swaying side to side. I also enjoyed Rob Zombie. I later lived with that same friend for a while and he made fun of my Sonic Youth records.

I've distilled my personal metal canon to 1-2 songs each from the acts I mentioned above and also “Ace of Spades.” I like some of Alice in Chains’s stuff, if that counts as metal. Also I've heard some Sleep and sun0))))))))))) but I’m guessing Mister Growl readers consider that hipster dilettante metal. People are beyond hating “hipsters” I hope, I mean that gets pretty tiresome.

So this album drones. The idea of droning appeals to me.

I’m not feeling this album though and I don’t really have it in me to say much more than that. They lose me at 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the first song when drums make their first appearance and they are not nearly thunderous enough to satisfy my admittedly cliché-informed expectations. I didn’t listen to it all the way through, to be honest. I checked out last track which is a “(remix)” of the first track because I thought it might have some additional aggro-techno drum machine beats you know like a remix but it didn’t.

This very well could be a good or great metal album. As a non-metal fan I am in no position to say and obviously this isn't a real review. But if the newbie or hipster dilettante in your life asks for a recommendation I would suggest more aggressive and demon-y. That is probably what he had in mind when he asked you.

If you want to recommend something to a Neil Young fan I would suggest Several Shades of Why by J. Mascis from 2011. The song “Can I” is just beautiful. Kurt Vile plays on that album and I would also recommend the new Kurt Vile album which is the consensus pick of internet indie culture this month. The consensus chose well this time.”

Not to self: Listen to each album first. Bad job by me. I’ve enjoyed releases from Horseback before and thought I was going to woo someone over to the metal playground with droning Swans-by-way-Burzum-if-they-were-both-from-Arkansas extreme noise. Many thanks to Rick for sharing his thoughts, hopefully we can convince him to review a future release that is appropriately demonic.

Listen to New Dominions here: http://horseback.bandcamp.com/releases